IWF In The News: LTE - 'Blatant Misdirection' (Mortality and The Lower Snake River Dams)

Originally published by the Lewiston Tribune on Thursday, July 27th, 2023. Written by Daniel Ritz, Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Idaho Wildlife Federation.

Blatant Misdirection (Mortality and the Lower Snake River Dams)

“Many of the dam breaching arguments we hear are based on the theory of delayed mortality ...,” Pacific Northwest Waterways Executive Director Heather Stebbings was quoted as saying in Eric Barker’s July 13 article headlined “Dam study: More research required.”

We must recognize this blatant misdirection by Stebbings and others financially motivated to protect the dams. This includes Inland Ports and Navigation Group, which funded the delayed mortality study Barker’s article focuses on. Yes, hydropower-caused delayed mortality is an important issue.

However, Stebbings’ quote suggests breach advocates hang their hat on ambiguous, delayed mortality numbers to justify breaching.

Their own study clearly states the “cumulative estimates of median mortality due to passage of eight mainstem Snake River and Columbia River dams range from 24%-37% depending on species and life-history type. These estimates do not include mortality that occurs because of water impoundment upstream and altered flows downstream of the dams which modify river conditions, river ecology, and fish survival.”

In reality, any delayed mortality numbers are in addition to the known nearly 40% of juvenile salmonids that perish as a direct result of dam interactions.

“We want the region to truly understand the science on this matter, and where the gaps in information might be,” Stebbings continued.

That much we can agree on. But, let’s not forget delayed mortality is in addition to what we already know.